


On Protecting the Reckless

by Kandakicksass



Series: Dying (to see you in the) Light [3]
Category: Dying Light (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-18 22:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4722119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kandakicksass/pseuds/Kandakicksass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rahim is drunk on a roof. His eagerness to run directly into the arms of danger worries Kyle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Protecting the Reckless

It feels good to be back in the tower, even if he’s disappointed in himself for not having more to show for it. He doesn’t have enough Antizin, but he has _something_ , and these people he’s begun calling his friends still thank him through stressed, gritted teeth.

He finds Rahim as soon as he can, and he feels a bit lighter when he finally does. Rahim is sitting on the edge of the building, looking out over the city. There’s a few cans around him, which Kyle doesn’t register for a moment. He looks lonely, but also somehow peaceful.  

“Rahim,” he calls out, and when the boy doesn’t respond, he comes closer. “Rahim, what are you doing up here?”

Rahim finally looks up, and there’s a goofy grin on his face when he meet’s Kyle’s eyes. “Hey, Crane. _Kyle_. Can I trust you?” He sounds almost cheerful, which isn’t that surprising considering how _drunk_ he is. Kyle laughs a little.

“How much have you had to drink, kid?”

He’s almost interrupted by Rahim’s snappy, overexcited, “Can I or not?”

“Yeah – yeah, yeah. What’s up?” he answers, as calmingly as he can manage, and goes to sit down next to Rahim, only to have the boy jump up with pointing, flailing arms a second later. He sighs, and stands as well while he listens to Rahim speak.

“See that skyscraper? Scouts found a volatile nest in there. We take that out, and then running missions at night? We could totally do that!” He pauses for breath, smiling down at Kyle. His eyes are huge and brown, sparkling. He looks so young for a moment that it takes Kyle’s breath away. He’s still so fucking young. He’s not much younger than Kyle, but what Kyle has in experience, Rahim only has in daydreams. “So I’m thinking, if we planted some explosives –“

He groans. “Ah, Jesus. Rahim, you’re not still on that?” Rahim pauses to glare at him, but his expression shifts into something more pleading.

“Kyle! We have to do this! As long as that nest is there we’ll never be able to gather up enough Antizin. It would work.” Then, softer, Rahim adds, “We’d make a good team.” Kyle has a split second for that thought – taking Rahim out into those dangerous streets – to send a shiver down his spine.

Then, his heart leaps to his throat for another reason. Rahim has stumbled too far toward the edge, and he slips, arms windmilling as he tips backwards. For a moment, Kyle has this awful image in his mind of Rahim falling, those huge brown eyes watching him as he plummets to his death.

He’s caught the boy before he can go down, still leaning backwards precariously. Rahim’s pleading, all the bravado in his voice gone – “ _Shit – oh my – don’t drop me! Don’t drop me!_ ”

Kyle pulls him back, and Rahim doesn’t even bother to try standing on his own. He stumbles forward this time, into Kyle’s body, and sags against him. Kyle is once again astounded by the trust it takes, even for something as small as letting Kyle hold him up. Rahim has his hands on Kyle’s shoulders, pressed up against him, and when he looks up there’s a charming little grin on his face – embarrassed, but still fond. His cheeks are pink. “Oh, fuck,” he mumbles, giggling a little. “See? Told you we make a good team.”

Kyle’s arms tighten instinctively around him, and he _knows_ that this is something Jade would murder him for – something he shouldn’t be doing. He’s getting too involved, and he knows it.

He can’t make himself pull away, though, and his voice is too gentle for his liking when he speaks again. “Look, Rahim. We don’t have any explosives. None. The closest thing to what you’re talking about are Spike’s firecrackers. It’s impossible.”

Rahim’s open expression closes a little bit, and he pulls away, making a show of straightening himself out. He ruffles a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You don’t know what it’s like,” he announces. “All I can do is watch. Sit on my ass and watch everything happen and do _nothing_. I don’t want to die here, Kyle. Not like this, not helpless. If I go out, I’d rather go out doing something.”

And Kyle knows how that feels, but he also doesn’t want Rahim to go out at all. It’s so dangerous, and Rahim is smaller than Kyle. He’s slimmer. His muscles are impressive, but Kyle shudders to picture Rahim against a hoard of twenty corpses.

He looks down, trying to think of something to say, and spots a picture on the ground. He looks at it for a second, and asks, “What’s this?”

Rahim snatches the picture from his hands. “I was set to fly out on Sunday; the quarantine was on Thursday. I already had my bags packed.” He sounds so bitter it makes Kyle’s heart ache, and as he speaks he rips the photo to shreds.

“I’ll…” Kyle doesn’t know how to say this, doesn’t want to make it a promise but wants to comfort him somehow. “Kid, look. I’ll keep my eyes open, okay? If there’s some way we can make this happen…”

Rahim interrupts him, still gazing out at the city. He sounds a little more sober than before, hardened somehow. “Whatever.”

Part of him wants to grumble and give it up as a bad job, but he _can’t_. He’s taking a chance, a huge fucking leap, by sticking around for this. He waits until Rahim settles to sit on the edge again, then kneels down behind him, setting his legs on either side of Rahim’s hips and planting his feet just before the edge of the roof. Rahim has his knees pulled up to his chest, head buried in his arms, and Kyle wraps his own arms over Rahim’s.

It takes a good, long minute, but eventually Rahim relaxes and presses his back into Kyle’s chest.

“I want to do _something_ ,” he mumbles, and Kyle squeezes him lightly, settling in with his head on Rahim’s shoulder.

“I know,” he says back, quietly. “I know. It’s just – we don’t want you to get hurt. God. If anything happened to you, Rahim –“

“You’d care?”

Kyle pulls away when Rahim shifts, and the boy turns enough to look at him head-on. He looks vulnerable, waiting for an answer.

And Kyle is honestly amazed he has to ask. “I’ve spent the past week radioing and talking to you. I’m running all around this damn city for you guys. I promised to come back, _to you_. Of course I care, Rahim.”

Rahim looks conflicted, biting his lower lip, then he pulls off the stupid goggles he keeps on all the time. Kyle watches in confusion as Rahim ruffles his hair again, making it lay a little flatter, so it sticks up less at the top. It makes him look even younger – just another young man with windblown hair and flushed cheeks.

His confusion is cleared up when Rahim shifts again, throwing both his legs over Kyle’s left, and puts a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. He’s suddenly so much closer, and Kyle focuses on him so intensely he nearly goes cross-eyed.

When Rahim kisses him, it’s so soft that Kyle barely feels it – yet, somehow, Kyle knows he’s going to feel it for days. He leans in, encouraging, and presses his mouth just a little bit harder against Rahim’s. The boy sighs against his mouth, sweet, and they trade gentle open-mouthed kisses for a few moments.

“Oh,” Kyle says, almost a whisper, when Rahim pulls away.

“Yeah,” Rahim answers weakly, voice just the slightest bit squeaky. “Oh.”

They don’t kiss again, but Rahim sits there, practically in Kyle’s lap, and buries his face in Kyle’s neck. Kyle holds him, and memorizes the beat of his heart.


End file.
